In Ridley Scott’s 1982 film, “Blade Runner,” based on Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electic Sheep, replicants (or androids) have no memory of their own. This highlights, in Dick and Scott’s fictional world of the year 2021, a distinctly non-human trait. Memories, after all, to a large extent define human beings as being human.

At one point, Deckard (the detective) is questioning Tyrell (the inventor/programmer of the replicants).

In today’s world, people with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) become creepily similar to these replicants by losing large chunks of their memories. Individuals like Dr. Cagan Randall, lead clinician and co-founder of Carrick Brain Centers, are now there to help rehabilitate them, as he recently did with media mogul, Glenn Beck.

Liz Klimas of TheBlaze.com writes: “While it would seem as if these treatments focus on physical effects of a TBI, Randall said that patients with such injuries also suffer from memory deficits. ‘Going through [this] rehabilitation, we see big improvements in memory restoration,’ Randall said.”

There are easier ways to restore one’s memory. One might be emphasizing a youthful self-image.

Reminiscent of Alvin Toffler’s “Future Shock?” Change is occurring so rapidly and exponentially that human beings may soon be unable to keep up with it all. What will happen to memories when they flash by us like the frames of a film strip? Will a youthful self-image counter the trauma? Will Brain Centers still be able to reverse memory loss? Will we simply forget about the past and focus like a laser on the ever-evolving now? Will we soon be no different from the replicants of Philip K. Dick and Ridley Scott?

Feeling Younger May Help Memory as We Age

Younger Self-Image May Help Preserve Cognitive Function as People Get Older

Jason Schneider

Nov. 10, 2014 1:12 p.m. ET

Feeling younger than one’s real age could help to preserve memory and cognitive function as people get older, says a study in the November issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

The study comes as recent research suggests aging is both a subjective and biological experience. A younger self-image was more common in physically active people with a lower body-mass index, the latest study found.

The study, conducted by researchers in France, analyzed data from 1,352 men and women, age 50 to 75 years old, who were enrolled in a larger U.S. study in the mid-1990s. Participants were asked how old they felt most of the time and how often they participated in moderate or vigorous exercise. Other information, such as the presence of chronic diseases, was recorded.

After about 10 years, cognitive function was assessed with tests of memory and executive function, the capacity to plan and carry out complex tasks. The study found that, on average, the participants felt 19% younger than their chronological age. Of the subjects, 89% felt younger and 11% felt older than their actual age. Those who felt older than their age scored 25% lower on memory and cognitive tests than those who felt younger.

The association between a younger subjective age and better memory and executive functioning was independent of gender, educational achievement, marital status and chronic diseases, the adjusted results showed. People who feel older than their age might require closer monitoring, as this may be an early marker of impaired cognition leading to dementia, the researchers said.

Caveat: The subjects’ social networks, history of depression, medication use and cognitive-related leisure activities weren’t considered.